A few years ago, John Nelson started getting confused about how to turn off lights in the house. He forgot that peanut butter was kept in the refrigerator. He walked away from an overflowing sink.
Then he wandered away while he and his wife, Jean, were shopping and couldn?t find his way back to her. She called the police.
Statistics
NATIONWIDE
5.4 million people have Alzheimer?s disease
15 million family caregivers
6th leading cause of death
66 percent increase in people with AD since 2000
16 million people expected to have the disease in 2050, triple today?s number
1 in 8 over age 65 have AD; 1 in 2 over age 85 have the disease.
SAN DIEGO COUNTY
60,000 people have Alzheimer?s disease
150,000 family caregivers
80 percent of care is at home
3rd leading cause of death
COSTS
$200 billion spent nationwide in 2012 to care for people with dementia.
$1 trillion is expected to be spent by 2050.
Source: Alzheimer?s Association
?In the beginning I thought, ?he?s just getting old.? But it was more than that,? Jean said. John Nelson, 80, was diagnosed with dementia that has continued to advance. The La Mesa couple have been married 55 years and some days now, he gets confused about Jean.
?He thinks I?m his sister,? she said.
The experience is achingly familiar for families with loved ones living with Alzheimer?s disease or related dementia. So activists honoring World Alzheimer?s Action Day on Friday hope to raise awareness that more research, services and education are needed for this fatal disease that promises to grow dramatically in coming decades.
?About 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer?s and that number is expected to triple by 2050,? said Mary Ball, chief executive of the San Diego/Imperial chapter of the Alzheimer?s Association, which provides extensive information and assistance services.
?When you add in the caregivers and family members around the person with the disease, it?s a staggering number of people affected.?
While the number of people living with Alzheimer?s continues to grow, 2012 has been an eventful year for research and funding related to the disease. Still, no scientific breakthroughs have occurred.
?While at this stage we can?t stop the disease, we can affect how people live with it,? said Dr. John Daly, a professor of geriatric medicine at UC San Diego and medical director of the university?s Seniors Only Care, or SOCARE, outpatient geriatric clinic.
?We can provide care that offers individuals comfort and compassion, and emphasizes what they have rather than what they?ve lost.?
Daly also is a board member at Glenner Memory Care Centers, which provides dementia-specific day care programs for adults and support services for caregivers at three locations.
John and Jean Nelson know the Glenner center in Hillcrest well. John spends three days a week at the little sun-filled house on Fourth Avenue, where trained staff and volunteers offer exercise, music, pet therapy and other activities. Jean attends a weekly caregivers support group, where she knows others will understand why she no longer sleeps well at night and why she never, ever leaves John alone.
Source: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2012/sep/20/call-action-alzheimers-day/
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